Chapter 27
27
“I’ll go.” Bert jumped up from his seat at the worktable. He pointed at the finished flower arrangements in the cooler. “It’s my fault Lillian’s pissed at you.”
“I’ll do the drops at Candler and Memorial. There’s a funeral arrangement to go to Gamble Funeral Home too. Then we’ve got a delivery on the south side. I’ll head out to Isle of Hope after that, and personally deliver Lillian’s treasure right to her door.”
“No, that’s okay. Just take care of the other deliveries. I’ll use my own car and take the silver back. Ultimately, it’s my responsibility.”
“Please?” He gave her his winningest smile. “I want to. You were right. I should have at least brought that bin into the shop and let you decide what to do with it. It was pure laziness on my part.”
“Well… if you really want to…”
The phone rang and they both reached for it. And stopped, when they saw Lillian Fanning’s name on the caller ID screen again.
“Now what?” Cara murmured.
“Hi Lillian. We were just heading your way.”
“Change of plans,” Lillian said, skipping a greeting. “I’m meeting a friend for drinks at the club. But I’ll leave a key to the back door. It’ll be under the lid of the gas grill on the patio. Just put the silver in the kitchen and leave the key where you found it afterward.”
“We can do that,” Cara said, grateful that neither of them would have to experience their client’s wrath face-to-face.
***
She quickly put together a small nosegay of pink roses to fit inside one of Lillian’s silver bud vases. Then she helped load the flower arrangements into the built-in racks in the van while Bert put the bin of silver in the front seat.
“There’s a key under the gas grill lid on the patio around the back of the Fannings’ house,” she told her assistant. “Put the little nosegay in the middle of the kitchen table, will you? Leave the rest of the silver in the bin, on the kitchen counter. And for God’s sake, be sure you’ve locked up tight when you leave.”
He nodded and hopped into the driver’s seat. Then he stuck his head out the open window. “Okay if I keep the van and use it tonight, Mom?” He cocked his head to the side. “I promise to put gas in it. Pretty please?”
Cara laughed despite herself. She could never stay mad at Bert for long, and he damned well knew it. And it wasn’t an unusual request. His own car was an unreliable seventeen-year-old Honda, which was why he mostly relied on his bike for transportation around town.
“Okay, but make sure all your homework’s done first! And no riding around town picking up strange girls.”
“No problemo,” Bert said. He backed up the van and drove slowly down the lane.